Chicago’s Intersport Deploys Object Matrix MatrixStore for Archive Management

Object Matrix has provided MatrixStore, the media focused private cloud solution, to Chicago based agency, Intersport.

Known for its media and marketing services, Intersport specializes in the creation, content production, and marketing services that span digital, sponsorship, experiential, and hospitality. As the duration of projects expanded and shoots had to be filmed in longer formats, Intersport required an intelligent nearline storage platform that securely managed its growing archive whilst ensuring content was available at all times. By implementing MatrixStore, Intersport has greater flexibility, more content protection and wider sharing options allowing more workflows to be implemented in the future.

MatrixStore is designed to meet the challenges faced by organizations that log, share and archive video content. Its tight integrations with Avid and automated workflows ensure Intersport benefit from operational efficiencies and effortless scale.

“As with many creative organizations we were faced with a storage challenge as our workloads continue to grow, projects are lasting longer and we are shooting in larger formats,” says Patrick Gulotta, VP Technical Operations. “To meet these challenges we needed to find a nearline solution that gave us the flexibility to move projects off our Avid storage but still have quick and easy access to them. We decided that MatrixStore from Object Matrix was the right solution for us. We liked how well it integrates with Avid, the scalability and its focus on our industry.”

CineSys-Oceana was tasked by Intersport to help find, implement and support a solution that met its increasing demands. Together, it concluded that the platform should be based on a secure object storage platform that would preserve its valuable content through its lifespan.

“The first customer for Object Matrix in the UK was an agency looking to archive and protect content so that it could be re-used, re-purposed and shared efficiently without resorting to fetching tapes from the shelf. 12 years on, and thanks to InterSport and CineSys-Ocena, we are proud to be working with our first agency customers in the USA,” added Nick Pearce, co-founder, Object Matrix. “Our media industry focus led us to integrate with the tools our customers use making adoption of our technology non-disruptive and enabling our customers to free up staff from managing media to work on tasks that add value to the business.”

The solution consists of 576TB MatrixStore storage with the intent to implement Object Matrix’s Vision and DropSpot applications into its workflow. The clusters are installed at the Intersport Chicago offices with plans to expand in the future.

“We have had many discussions with Intersport regarding its workflow and the challenges it faces being able to manage the cost, complexities, and ever-growing amounts of media and projects. Simply adding more online storage was cost-prohibitive plus it did not offer any back up of its valuable media,” says Mike Keeny, Territory Manager, CineSys Oceana. “Tape has its place in their workflow but was not efficient in terms of media retrieval. During conversations we quickly realized that Object Matrix would be the perfect fit in its environment because of its ability to allow a nearline “digital parking spot”, create redundancy of sensitive material, and fast and efficient retrieval of material when demanded. And, equally important, the ease and compatibility of working within its existing infrastructure. We are excited about the positive impact we believe Object Matrix will have for Intersport.”

Working with CineSys-Oceana the Object Matrix customer footprint in the USA has grown significantly and it now has installations in New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Atlanta & Miami.